First Christmas
by Nerwen Aldarion
Summary: Companion One-shot to The Best Mistake: Jane and Lisbon agree to celebrate Alaina's first Christmas together, banter and fun ensue along with a little bit of mistletoe. Jisbon


Disclaimer: I own nothing...well technically I own Alaina! I own the baby! LOL

A/N: All right guys, I got A LOT of requests to show Alaina's first Christmas after I just mentioned Christmas in chapter 3 hehehe. Well I don't think I'll be able to fit Alaina's Christmas into the actual fic but I couldn't stop thinking about it. So this is my Christmas present to you guys, a big mountain of fluff for Christmas with a bit of a Jisbon cherry on top.

Note: It's probably important to read TBM before reading this fic, otherwise the characters and the situation won't really make sense

* * *

First Christmas

Lisbon pulled her car up in the parking lot, right up against the wall of evergreen trees that were lined up in haphazard rows, all covered with plastic and twine. Several people were out, even more were hauling trees out of the place and trying to throw them on top of their cars. She looked over at the man next to only to see he was looking at her too. "Don't give me that look, I didn't _ask_ you to come."

"No," Jane agreed, grinning while he unbuckled his seat belt, "but you couldn't very well do this alone."

"Oh really?"

"You were going to carry a tree and our daughter all the way back to the car and strap said tree to the top all by yourself?"

Well he had a point there. Lisbon glared at him while she opened the back door to unbuckle Alaina from her car seat. Their little girl was wide-awake and fascinated by all of the lights and commotion. "I could have asked Grace for help."

"You didn't need Grace," Jane replied, "You need a full, red-blooded man to help carry your tree."

Lisbon couldn't help but grin. "Red blooded? _You_?"

"Why not me?"

She looked him up and down. "Other than your cat-like tendencies, the fact that you flee from danger and that you drink tea, what about you qualifies you as a red-blooded male?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I'd say the fact that we had no problem making this one," he gestured to Alaina, "proves my virility in that regard."

Lisbon blushed and shook her head sheepishly. "Let's just go get the damn tree."

Jane was merciful and didn't tease her anymore on that subject though she knew that only meant every other subject was fair game. She turned her attention to their daughter who was bundled up snugly in a cute winter coat to keep her warm against the cold December air. "You see all of the trees, Alaina? One of them is ours. Let's go pick one out."

The two adults and baby walked along the rows, waving off one of the sales reps that was certainly going to try and steer them to the overpriced section. "Look at that one," Jane pointed out to a stunning tree. "It's full, beautiful and it has all of the needles."

"It's also over ten feet tall," Lisbon pointed out dryly, "We'd never fit it inside my apartment." She pointed towards the smaller sections. "Stick with the six footers, Jane."

"Yes but with how long you've waited the tree you'll be stuck with will probably look like the one Charlie Brown had."

She gave him an annoyed look. "Ignore, Daddy. He's just not in the Christmas spirit." She turned around and left him standing there, heading towards the spot where the smaller trees were lined up.

In a moment Jane had caught up with her. "Not in the Christmas spirit?"

"I know a Grinch when I see one."

Lisbon handed Jane Alaina while she started inspecting the trees. Alaina cooed and reached out to grab one of the prickly needles but Jane pulled her hand back, not wanting her to get scratched. "It's funny that you of all people want a Christmas tree."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked turning around accusingly.

He grinned. "You, the ever most practical CBI agent, I bet you have a perfectly decent artificial one stashed in your storage room somewhere."

"And if I do?"

"Then why the need to get a real one?"

"I _want_ a real one," Lisbon explained as if that were the whole truth.

"But you hate real Christmas trees," Jane pointed out, "the needles get everywhere, you have to water them and then when the holiday is over you are stuck with a dying tree."

Lisbon turned around exasperated. "Just what are you saying?"

He was smiling. "What happened to the woman who declared that she couldn't understand why people celebrated a holiday by 'lying to children about a fat man with a sack full of toys'?"

How the hell did he remember that?

"Nothing," Lisbon said, "I still think Santa is stupid."

"That's why you took Alaina to see him yesterday."

"Well she had to have a picture with him, otherwise my brothers would never let me hear the end of it," she said, "Besides, you were there with me, why are you complaining?"

"I'm not complaining," Jane told her, "I loved it. Especially your horrified face when Alaina pulled his beard off."

Lisbon couldn't help but giggle at the memory of her little baby yanking off the fake Santa's white beard. "I had no idea she was that strong."

"I did, she takes after you." That made her smile softly. She looked up to see Jane's eyes sparkling as he still held their baby daughter in his arms. "What's changed?" he asked gently, even though she had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"This," Lisbon told him, leaning in close to kiss the top of Alaina's hooded head. "For the first time in years I actually have a reason to enjoy Christmas, not just tolerate it."

Jane was still looking at her, a very soft expression on his face. "I understand." And Lisbon knew that he did. For years she and Jane had been the two misfits at the holidays, both pasting on smiles and secretly trying to find ways to get out of the annual Christmas party. Neither one of them had ever been inclined to be holly or jolly at this time of year.

But maybe that would all change for Jane this year too. He had the same reason to celebrate Christmas, that little purple bundle that was drooling against his arm. And here he was, helping her pick out a tree.

"I want to do it right," Lisbon said, "Alaina should have a real Christmas tree for her first Christmas."

Jane's smile grew. "Then we better find the right one."

They spent another half hour searching through the trees, Jane offering up various suggestions and Lisbon turned him down. He finally gave up, entertaining Alaina with a stray branch he found on the ground. She kept trying to grab it but he'd hold it out of her reach and she'd laugh every single time.

Finally Lisbon settled on a nice full tree just under six feet. Jane was just glad that they could finally wrap up the tree and go home. Of course now they had the task of hauling the tree back to the car. At least one of the guys was willing to help carry it to her SUV; it was up to him and Lisbon to strap the thing on.

"You're doing it wrong," she declared.

"I haven't even touched the cords yet," Jane pointed out, "_how_ could I be doing it wrong."

Lisbon finished buckling Alaina back into her car seat before coming around to take a look. "You put it through the roof racks right?"

"Yes."

"Then loop it around the tree—."

"Believe it or not, Lisbon," Jane told her while tying a good sailor's knot next to the trunk, "I've actually done this before."

She gaped at him. "You strapped a tree to a car?"

Jane shrugged. "Angela loved real trees, she loved the smell of them." He wasn't looking at her, focusing on his work. Lisbon felt the awkwardness in that moment, the same feeling that always came whenever the subject of his wife and first daughter came up. Jane finished the tying the not and shook the tree, satisfied that it was tight. "You see, perfect."

Lisbon nodded numbly and shook it off. "Okay, let's take it home."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It took a little bit for Jane to wrestle the tree into her living room but they did manage the put the tree on the stand and Lisbon filled it with some water before finding the box of ornaments. Jane sat down with Alaina on the floor while Lisbon surveyed all of her decorations. "Okay, the lights go first, then the ribbon, then the ornaments."

She was glad she'd untangled the spool of lights that morning since that saved her some time. But she still got a face full of pine needles while wrapping the lights around the tree. Eventually she got them wound around the tree and turned her attention to the ribbon.

"Jane could you hand me the ribbon?" She asked but he didn't respond. "Jane?"

Lisbon looked over to see him sitting by Alaina, a box of red ornaments by his knee and he was juggling five of them. Alaina was laughing and slapping her hands on the carpet, her eyes following the shiny round balls.

"If you break one of those I'll kill you." Lisbon declared.

Jane didn't take his focus off the ornaments. "I never drop them," he told her.

"I remember you dropping a bunch of oranges about six years ago."

"That's because you threw one at my head and I had to duck."

She smiled at the memory. He'd gotten on her nerves that day and him standing there juggling fruit had been the last straw. Watching him duck and all of that fruit flying in every direction had certainly done wonders for her mood then.

Jane deftly caught each ornament in his hands, not one of them broken and placed them back in the box. "Your ribbon."

"Thank you," Lisbon said, taking the red ribbon and going back to work on trimming her tree.

Soon enough it was time to put the ornaments on. Jane was prepared to hook on of the red ones he'd been juggling but Lisbon stopped him. "Wait, not that one!"

"There's an order?" Jane asked as she jumped up and raced to her kitchen.

Lisbon came back with a small plastic bag. She pulled out a neat package in white paper and tore it open. "This one has to go first." She held up a little ornament that had baby feet stamped in pale pink. Written at the bottom in black ink was _Baby's First Christmas~ Alaina Grace 2013_.

Jane smiled at the ornament for a moment before handing it back to her. "It's perfect."

Lisbon grinned and put the ornament front and center on the tree. "There, now we can start with the others."

It was fun trimming the tree and Lisbon wasn't bossy with the ornaments probably because she saw early on that he was better at this than she was, Jane always had an eye for beauty. He rummaged through the box of mismatching ornaments; she'd never been one for a designer tree anyways.

"What are these?" Jane asked pulling out a few unique ones. They all had her name written on them but the years were different.

Lisbon smiled as she picked up one with music note and the year she turned eleven on it. "Those are my ornaments, it was a tradition my mom did. Every year we'd get a new ornament that commemorated that year. That's the one from the year I took piano," she rummaged through and held up one shaped like Mickey Mouse ears. "The year all of us went to Disney World, we all got matching ones that year."

"Do you still do it?" Jane asked, noting that the ornaments were too few for her to have kept up the tradition.

"Not so much," she admitted, "I kept it up after mom died and I was still at home. When I got older there wasn't much of a point but some years, like if something big happens…I still get one." Lisbon reached up to finger Alaina's ornament, "I'm definitely going to start again with Alaina, that way she'll see every year of her life at Christmas."

Jane smiled at her. "That sounds like a good tradition." He rummaged through the pile and pulled out her newest one. It showed a very pregnant woman asleep in a chair, her feet up on a desk littered with paperwork. "From last year I assume."

She blushed. "My brothers sent me that one, I had nothing to do with it. I wasn't even that far along at Christmas last year, nobody could tell I was showing."

"I did," Jane said softly.

She was looking at the tree not at him, she didn't want at this moment. There was a deep rush of pain at the reminder of last Christmas. She'd trimmed a small artificial tree herself, shut up in her apartment and spent the night staring at her sonogram imagining this Christmas with her baby. Jane hadn't had any part of that. She imagined his Christmas had been lonely and bitter; they hadn't had each other to hold on to last year.

But those times were over. Jane was devoted to their daughter now and she had forgiven him for being a complete idiot. This was all they needed right now, to be parents.

"Why do you have a _bullet_?"

Lisbon turned around to see that Jane was holding up one of her favorites. It was a small bullet she'd glued a red ribbon to and turned into a Christmas ornament. Jane's shocked face was funny and he still hadn't seen the best part. "Turn it over," Lisbon told him, biting her lip to keep from grinning.

Jane did as she asked and his eyes widened. "It has my name on it."

She nodded, no longer hiding her grin. "I made that the year I met you. It's helped me a lot through the years."

He frowned a little. "How?"

"Well whenever you get on my nerves it's nice remembering that at home I have a bullet with your name on it."

He looked a little startled by that dark revelation and then amused. Jane turned to Alaina with mock alarm. "If anything ever happens to Daddy…you know who did it."

Lisbon laughed and shook her head before picking up the amusing ornament and placing it on the tree. "If anything happens to you I won't have anything to worry about, anyone would know it was justifiable."

"Now I'm really scared."

"Just shut up and hand me more ornaments.

They finished trimming the tree not long later, Jane picked up Alaina and stood by the tree while Lisbon did the honors of plugging in the lights. Instantly the tree was aglow with hundreds of twinkling lights with a beautiful silver star reflecting the light.

"Ooooh," Alaina gasped, her big blue-green eyes were wide as she stared at the tree. Her hands reached out as if to grab it but she was too far away.

"It's pretty isn't it, baby." Lisbon moved to stand by Jane and their daughter.

"It's beautiful," Jane corrected, leaning down to kiss the top of Alaina's head. Lisbon took the time to drink in the sight of Jane and their daughter standing in the soft glow of the lit Christmas tree. It was breathtaking.

Lisbon turned away; ready to pack up the remaining ornaments and put the boxes back into storage. "You're still coming Christmas day, right?"

"Of course," Jane said, putting Alaina back into her playpen so he could help her mother pack up. "Actually, I was wonder if I could stay Christmas Eve."

She stopped and dropped the box she was holding. "You mean you want to spend the night?"

"If that's all right with you."

Lisbon chewed her bottom lip as she thought about what that would mean. Jane hadn't spent the night in her apartment since he'd stayed with her for the week after Alaina's birth. Things had been different then. She'd barely been able to speak with him now…now they were both different and she was more aware of him now.

"Why?" She finally asked.

Jane shrugged. "I'd like to see Alaina first thing in the morning on her first Christmas."

That was a damn good reason. She knew it would suck to wake up on Christmas morning alone only to have to drive all the way to her apartment and miss their daughter's first look at the mound of presents under the tree. That wasn't the way to spend Alaina's first Christmas…and he would be sleeping on the couch.

"Okay, you can stay the night," Lisbon told him, "You'll just have to help me prep for the Christmas dinner."

"That sounds fair," Jane told her with a grin. He helped her put the boxes away before heading back over to play with their daughter for a little while before he had to leave. This wasn't his home and Lisbon wasn't his, he couldn't stay. That was a sad truth.

* * *

On Christmas Eve Jane dropped in using the key she'd given him and with a bag full of his clothes, toiletries and more than a few neatly wrapped presents. Lisbon was on the phone when he walked in and he could tell right away that it was with one of her brothers.

"No everything is great…that? Oh that was just…Jane. Yes he's here for Christmas…he's spending the night. No not in my bed! Oh my God, James!"

Oh, it was James. He was the one that hit him; this was going to be an interesting conversation. Lisbon met his eyes and pointed at Alaina who was sitting up in her pen, chewing on the ear of as stuffed bunny. She thought that Alaina would distract him from the phone call, she was wrong there.

"No we are not having this argument again," Lisbon declared. "He's Alaina's father, he should see her at the holidays and this is my decision so you have to respect it. No I'm not saying you have to _like_ it but you can't tell me what to do. It's Christmas, James, I don't want to fight. Good, tell the kids I miss them and wish Natalie a merry Christmas from me. Yes, I'll send more pictures of Alaina. Merry Christmas, James."

Lisbon hung up the phone and let out a loud, frustrated groan. Jane grinned, picking up Alaina. "The Lisbon brothers still hate my guts."

"Don't take it personally, they hate anyone that knocks up their older sister."

"And treated her terribly during her pregnancy."

Lisbon didn't say anything, really that point was rather obvious. "I don't want to talk about my brothers," she told him honestly, "let's just enjoy Christmas."

But Christmas with a five month old was exactly like any night with a five month old except there was a tree against the wall. Jane helped bathe Alaina while Lisbon turned to him with glee. "You have to see the sleeper I got her for tonight."

He shook his head smiling. "Of course you got her one."

"Don't laugh, she deserves the best."

"Can't argue with that," Jane agreed, taking their daughter out of her baby tub and wrapping her in the hooded towel. "Let's see it."

He followed her into Alaina's nursery and Lisbon pulled out a small red-footed sleeper with red and white candy canes covering it. "I thought the Rudolph one was too boyish."

"I'm surprised Grace didn't get her a Santa dress."

"She did," Lisbon told him, "but I don't know where she'd wear it."

Jane laughed lightly, putting on a new diaper for Alaina before reaching for the sleeper. Lisbon had good taste, their daughter looked festive and beautiful in the outfit. They gave her another bottle before Jane sang her to sleep. Lisbon loved listening to him sing, it still brought tears to her eyes but at least she'd managed to keep herself from shedding them.

Alaina was finally breathing deeply, she would sleep until Christmas morning and her parents couldn't wait for that magical moment. "Come on," Lisbon said, tapping his shoulder, "I have eggnog downstairs."

"Oh, how can I say no to that?"

She grinned and they made their way downstairs where she poured them each a small glass of the rich beverage. They both sat down on her sofa, not too far apart but they weren't touching either and enjoyed the view of the beautifully lit Christmas tree. She smiled softly. "This is nice."

Jane nodded. "It is."

She turned to look at him softly. "Did you like Christmas? I mean…before everything happened."

"Everyone likes Christmas," Jane pointed out, "presents, interesting music, creative use of lights and of course, the great food."

Lisbon laughed lightly at that. "You would focus on that."

Jane was still smiling but it was a little sad. He looked down at the drink in his hand. "I hadn't really thought about things like Christmas…not until Alaina was born."

"I get it," Lisbon said. She was quiet for a moment as she sipped her drink and thought about thing she didn't want to say but had to know. "Is all of this all right?"

He turned to look at her confused. "What?"

"I mean, this. Christmas and merriment and putting up a Christmas tree…all of that silly stuff that you denied yourself for so long."

"It's not silly," Jane replied, "and of course it's all right. I love having a real reason to celebrate again. I can't wait to see the look on Alaina's face in the morning, it's going to be even more fun when she's older and is trying to sneak downstairs to see if Santa came yet."

Lisbon grinned at that image and then grimaced. "I guess I should relish this Christmas, in a couple of years we'll be staying up late, wrapping the presents and trying to keep quiet so she doesn't wake up and see us."

Jane nodded, grinning now too. "Then we're exhausted the next morning but have to deal with the shrieking little girl who's unreasonably excited that she got a certain kind of doll she just couldn't live without."

Lisbon laughed. "I can't wait."

"Neither can I."

For a few minutes they simply stared at one another and Lisbon realized she'd been talking about the future Christmases with plural pronouns. It was as if they would be a family…or even that Jane would be with her on Christmas Eve night. But no, this was just this year. Jane wasn't going to be with her, he certainly wasn't going to be living here.

Where had that thought come from?

She shuffled an inch away from him and grabbed the remote. "I'm sure _It's A Wonderful Life_ is on at least five channels right now. Want to find one?"

Jane just shrugged. "Be my guest."

Sure enough, two clicks of the remote later she found Jimmy Stewart about to romance Donna Reed after the dance. This was what she needed, to watch the best Christmas film of all time and forget all about the man sitting next to her and how so much sexier he was without obsessing over his lost family.

They watched the film in silence. About halfway through the film she realized they'd moved closer to one another and Jane had an arm on the back of the couch, almost around her…almost. But Lisbon knew he wouldn't, they couldn't do something like that. They were only here for Alaina, nothing else…nothing else at all.

When the credits finally rolled Lisbon stood up. "Okay, it's an hour before it's officially Christmas and we should both get some sleep." She smiled down at him. "You going to be okay on the couch?"

"Where else would I sleep?"

In her bed. God help her don't think about that!

"Right," Lisbon said, "Besides, you like couches." He grinned at her joke and she smiled back. "Good night, Jane."

"Night, Lisbon."

She stared at him for a few seconds before finally heading upstairs to her bed…alone.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Early Christmas morning Lisbon woke up to the sun rising, she never had to set an alarm on Christmas day, her brain knew that excitement was brewing and she had to get up as soon as she could. Lisbon smiled as she sat up in bed, eager to start the day. She glanced at the clock to see that Alaina might actually be awake right now and that got her excited.

She bolted out of bed and hurried to her daughter's nursery. Sure enough Alaina was awake but just hanging out in her crib, cooing and waving her little hands. "Good morning, sweetheart." Lisbon said, reaching into the crib to hold her in her arms. "Merry Christmas."

Alaina smile at her and tried to reach for her mother's long hair. Lisbon grinned and kissed her cheek. "Come on, let's see if Daddy is awake."

As soon as mother and daughter headed downstairs it was apparent that Jane was in fact awake and was probably thinking of heading upstairs to greet their daughter as well. He smiled as soon as he saw them. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Lisbon replied and handed Alaina over to him. "Alaina wanted to tell her daddy that herself."

He smiled and gazed down at their child. "Merry Christmas, Alaina." He softly kissed her head, relishing this happy moment. Jane turned to look at Lisbon. "So, breakfast or presents first?"

"Presents of course!"

"Of course, what was I thinking?"

They both sat down on the floor by the tree. Alaina's presents had to come first of course, especially since ninety-nine percent of them were for her anyways. A pattern was obvious as soon as a few presents were opened. It was clear that Lisbon had opted for more practical presents that Alaina needed, a baby Bjorn, an infant swing, and a bouncing chair. Jane had gone the fun route, getting her toys that Alaina was eager to sink her gums into. Grace and Lisbon's brothers had a similar train of thought as Jane, boy would her brothers hate to hear that.

But it also clear that Alaina's favorite toy wasn't anything her parents got her, she had more fun playing with the wrapping paper than anything else. Alaina loved throwing it up in the air and shrieking as it came down around her. She also was fascinated by the shiny paper Grace had used to wrap her gifts, she kept running her tiny pudgy fingers over the designs on it.

Lisbon spied the wrapped gift she'd put under the tree for Jane, she felt a little self-conscious but there was no point. They'd always exchanged Christmas gifts before. She reached for it and handed it over to him. "This one is for you."

"You got me a present?"

"Of course," Lisbon told him, "it's Christmas."

Jane smiled before carefully tearing open the paper. He revealed a long book she'd worked diligently on for months. Across the top was their daughters name in perfect bubble print. "I started it after she was born," Lisbon explained, "pictures, a lock of her hair," she grinned as he turned the page she knew he'd love most, "her footprints."

He kept flipping through the pages, a soft smile on his face. "You made this for me?"

"Well…yeah."

"But you must have started this months ago," Jane pointed out, "you didn't even want me involved then."

She sighed. "The truth is that I started it and I didn't know why, when things got better between us I just knew that it was something for you." She smiled now. "There are a bunch of blank pages in the back, I figure we can fill them up with more stuff as she gets older."

He smiled at that thought, particularly the 'we' in that sentence. "It's perfect." Lisbon smiled happily at him, just glad that she'd done something right here. It wasn't easy getting a present for a man who eschewed most worldly pleasures including new clothing.

Jane flipped through the scrapbook a little more while Lisbon tried to keep Alaina from crawling out of the living room. She set her down in her lap just as Jane held out a small box for her. "What's this?"

"Your present."

She gave him a small smile before accepting the gift. She was even more careful with her wrapping paper until it fell into a neat little square on the floor. Lisbon flushed a little as she realized this was a jewelers box. Her eyes flicked to his in warning, he had extravagant taste in jewelry if the emeralds he'd given her years ago were any indication.

But nestled inside the box was a simple silver chain bracelet with a silver heart and a ruby set in it. Lisbon gasped and lifted it up to get a better look at it. Now seeing that on the other side of the heart he'd had Alaina's name engraved.

"Emeralds might match your eyes but the ruby is her birthstone," Jane explained, "I figured you'd prefer that."

"It's beautiful," Lisbon told him, meaning it out of the bottom of her heart.

He smiled. "I knew you might actually wear the bracelet, I didn't want you to have to choose between your mother's cross or not."

That touched her almost as much as the gift. He'd put a lot of thought into what mattered to her most. Lisbon immediately tried to put the bracelet on but it wasn't so easy one handed while trying to keep Alaina in her lap. Jane reached over and deftly moved the clasp so that it was hooked over her wrist. For a second he still held her hand in both of his and Lisbon couldn't tear her eyes away from him. God help her it was hard to keep her wits when he looked at her like that.

Lisbon pulled her hand away and awkwardly rose to her feet, Alaina resting on her hip. "All right, presents are done, we should eat breakfast and then start on making the dinner. It's going to take all day."

Jane nodded, standing up as well. "A shame Alaina's not eating solids yet, she's going to miss out."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's only if I don't burn the ham."

He grinned at her and followed her into the kitchen. It took her a second to notice that something was different but eventually even she noticed what was going on.

Over the entrance to the kitchen was a sprig of mistletoe.

Lisbon whirled around to glare at Jane. "Seriously? You had to pull this crap?"

Jane laughed. "To be fair, it was just supposed to be a bit of fun."

"So what was the plan, to magically wind up under here with Alaina?"

"Something like that."

She groaned a little and shook her head. But in a moment she was smiling again. "Well take her then, keep up the tradition."

But Jane didn't move to bring his daughter in his arms instead he leaned in to give Alaina a soft kiss on her cheek. He didn't move back though but looked up into Lisbon's eyes. "You know you are under here too."

Lisbon felt her heart pounding but put on an impish smile. "Fine then," she turned her cheek and pointed with her finger. She expected him to give her a kiss on her cheek like he'd done with Alaina.

She didn't expect him to cup her chin in his hand and force her to look into his eyes once more. Then he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, a soft, warm and gentle kiss. It was quick and brief but for those two seconds she felt real warmth from him.

He pulled back and gave her a sly smile. "Pancakes?"

Lisbon blinked a couple of times to clear her head. "What?"

"Breakfast. How do pancakes sound?"

"Uhhh okay," Lisbon said still trying to shake what she was feeling. He was grinning as he turned away in the kitchen. She took a few moments to get herself settled before following him.

It was just for fun. It didn't mean anything. You can't go down the road again, he'll only hurt you.

She watched him as he pulled a mixing bowl out of her cupboard. He was moving around her kitchen as if he owned it, in his pajamas in unshaved face. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt her, quite the opposite in fact.

He looked like he belonged.

Jane looked up and met her eyes in a soft smile and for a moment she wondered if he knew what she was thinking. "Merry Christmas, Lisbon."

She still stood their holding their daughter in her arms, still wondering what the future would bring. But she wouldn't think about that today, tomorrow maybe but not today. It was Christmas.

"Merry Christmas, Jane."

There was no doubt in Lisbon's mind that Alaina's first Christmas was certainly memorable.

* * *

A/N: Well what did you think? I hope you guys like Alaina's first Christmas and may I wish you guys a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Love you all!


End file.
